My UCR stopped working ???

[Gqgeek81]

So I had an odd thing happen to my suspension.

I last setup my Hennessy with UCR suspension at the Uwharrie hang this past Spring.
I think a few people sat in it and tried it out but no one slept in it and I had no issues showing the adjustment to people.

Monday I take it to Grayson Highlands and the UCR's on both ends simply don't work anymore.

About half of the amsteel forming the outer sleeve (the Chinese finger trap portion) simply refuses to budge. I can't get it to expand wider but it also doesn't really look like its pulled closed where it should be gripping the inner line. Its like its been glued in a sort of half constricted shape. I could get maybe ~3 inches of total play on each UCR going in either direction and then no matter how I massaged the rope I simply could not pull more through in either direction. I slipped it off the MSH and pulled the rubber o-rings off so I knew they weren't part of the problem but nothing mattered. I almost think amsteel running inside the sleeve is bunched up somehow and causing the problem but I've never seen this before.

I was able to made the adjustments I needed by moving the MSH, but I'm stumped. What happened here?

[fallkniven]

My dynaglide ucrs don't last very long. They twist and fray and gets snagged up on itself inside the constrictor. My amsteel ucr's though last much longer, hold together much better, and is all around nicer to work with.
It sounds like the inner line may have twisted and bunched up. Although, when I have problems like this, that's when I replace them so it may just be worthwhile to make a new set. Slipping in the middle of the night is not too fun...

[Gqgeek81]

Interesting. I didn't know this could happen. What concerns me is that I've probably only ever used this set 20 times total.

Does that mean on a thru hike I'd be having issues withing a month?


In any event its absolutely time to replace them. They were the first set I made and crazy long bury lengths and some space I left between different parts they have far less total adjustment than they should.

[fallkniven]

No, my dynaglide ucr's get changed about twice ayear of daily hanging. My amsteel ones are good for a year or two easily.
Not sure what happened to yours, weird. Can you take a picture?

[DRobertson]

often times, with whoopie slings, or UCRs,... the user does not "milk" the bury. Not "milking the bury" can cause overconstriction of the dynaglide OR amsteel blue. Then, you cannot adjust the sling/ucr. Sooooo.... MAKE SURE TO MILK THE BURY!!!

How do I know this??? First hand experience.

[GrumpyOne]

Slipping in the middle of the night is not too fun...

That's what happened to my UCR setup. They were only a few hangs old and now I can't get them to hold.

I ended up going back to the stock WBBB Webbing/Buckles suspension just because it's so simple and fool proof.

-jw

BTW - My UCRs were made with Amsteel...

[fallkniven]

I messed around seeing how small of a constrictor I could get away with. After waking up on the ground a few nights, I saidd why bother, and now use a 12"-15" constrictor. Haven't had a slip yet....